"Ukraine's political life is in far better shape than seemed possible before the Orange revolution", considers the daily. "The elections will doubtless be hit by localised claims of ballot-rigging, but the days of nationwide fraud are gone; the media are largely free; and there is real political competition among the parties. The economy is distorted by gross inequality but it is growing at its fastest-ever pace. Ordinary Ukrainians may still not have much, but they have more than at any time since independence. ... Voters must put pressure on party leaders to ensure the country pursues EU membership with as much determination as possible. The country's leaders must implement accession-linked policies - and seek support from businessmen at a politically acceptable price." (25/09/2007)

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The Ukrainians have become weary of politics, Ondrej Soukup writes. After witnessing an election rally held by the former icon of the opposition movement Yulia Tymoshenko, he draws bitter conclusions about the time since the Orange Revolution in 2004. "This time, too, several thousand people attended the rally. But the enthusiasm is gone. The former head of government is as rhetorically gifted as ever, but the magic of those days when she hypnotised hundreds of thousands of people has faded. Words alone are not enough nowadays, especially as everyone present still has vivid memories of the scandals during Tymoshenko's brief term in office - for instance the lucrative privatisations financed by party funding. Back then it became clear that the orange politicians' concept of democracy differed from that of the majority of their voters. They mainly took care of their own interests." (24/09/2007)

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Wacław Radziwinowicz criticises the Socialist Party led by former parliamentary speaker Alexander Moros. The party backed the Orange Revolution in 2004 but has now switched to the other side. "The Socialists are doing everything they can to escape punishment for betraying their comrades at Independence Square... But the truth is that Moros and his cronies are in such a panic because they know that after the elections they will disappear into a political void. Recent polls show they will win only 1.5 percent of the vote - half of the three percent they need to get into parliament... So all they can do now is try to destabilise the country. Although Moros is taking part in the election campaign, he refuses to recognise the president's dissolution of the parliament and acts as if he were still parliamentary speaker." (27/09/2007)

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Konrad Schuller finds it surprising that so far the election campaign has gone without incident. He notes that Viktor Yanukovych and his "Party of Regions" have refrained from sabotaging the campaign and even sought reconciliation with the pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko. "Whether the current ceasefire will continue after the elections will depend on whether the Western camp surrounding Yushchenko manages to satisfy the pro-Eastern oligarchy's desire for security for its dubiously amassed fortunes without surrendering to the late-Soviet power reflexes still strong within the 'Party of Regions'. This attempt may fail because the vote-riggers and warmongers in Yanukovych's camp still wield considerable influence. Nonetheless, the calm of the past months has at least shown that the attempt is not necessarily doomed to failure." (27/09/2007)

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"In our societies fuelled by having, faith is often only considered as a disruptive and destructive force", notes Jean-Pierre Denis, chief editor of the Catholic weekly. "It is true that Islamist terrorism has forcefully contributed to this, transforming religious energy into a weapon of massive intimidation. Animated with a positive and vital energy, the monks of Rangoon [In Burma] are thus doing everyone a universal favour. They are not destroying anything, but are putting things straight and back into perspective on the scale of the planet and of all civilizations. Their peaceful procession shows the dissident and positive power of real spirituality, the kind that carries society's deep aspirations without claiming power. Bare-foot religion has no weapons, but it remains, after the death of ideologies, the only force capable of viscerally gripping a population." (27/09/2007)

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"Alan Greenspan, former president of the American Federal Reserve, the man who masterminded the dazzling development of the new economy recently said in his memoirs that the leaders of the planet are all fighting for petrol", writes Lluís Bassets, chief editor of the daily's opinion pages. "The soloists are intoning psalmodies on arms of mass destruction, the anti-terrorist struggle, human rights, the elimination of dictatorships... . They are insisting against nuclear proliferation, embodied by Iran ... . But same old tune, with a few variations, is still playing in the background: energy is always the key issue. ... What better banner than democracy to be waved by a president [George Bush] whose moral authority and international prestige has been a tainted by Guantanmo and Abou Ghraib. ... But pay no attention, it is only for energy." (27/09/2007)

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All available articles from » Lluís Bassets

On October 4, the Party of European Socialists (PES) will decide whether Slovakia's largest governing party, Smer, led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, will be allowed to resume its membership. Smer was suspended from the party in 2006 for forming a coalition with the ultra-right Slovak National Party SNS. According to Katerina Safarikova, Smer's worries are not over yet owing to tense relations between Slovakia and Hungary, which further deteriorated as a result of Slovakia's parliamentary decision to uphold the Beneš decrees. "Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány doesn't want the PES to give Fico the green light under these circumstances. It's possible he will pull strings to ensure that Smer remains suspended. The Hungarian MEPs have also had the situation of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia put on the agenda of the European Parliament's human rights committee. This debate will be held immediately prior to the decision about Smer's membership." (27/09/2007)

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All available articles from » Katerina Safarikova

In a survey published by the University of Uppsala, six out of ten respondents said they saw ethnic diversity as positive for Sweden's culture. At the same time, 80 percent found that immigrants should adapt to the Swedish way of life and 50 percent favoured a ban on women wearing headscarves at work. The daily comments: "The survey reveals a generally tolerant and enlightened population. Serious, deep conflicts resulting from xenophobia are virtually non-existent. But what is worrying is the latent hostile attitude towards Muslims... This is why it's important to provide more information and promote contact between Muslims and non-Muslims in schools, at the workplace and in social debate. Once the alien becomes more familiar, there's a better chance that prejudices and fears will disappear. And an increasing number of people would understand how pointless and offensive it would be to ban headscarves." (27/09/2007)

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The conservative daily springs to the defence of the Spanish monarchy, whose authority is contested in a growing national debate. "Republicanism constitutes a legitimate ideological option, and democratic parties have always urged for the establishment of a Republic. But up until now we had never seen anti-monarchy violence take on the amplitude and perseverance that has been seen in Catalonia [these past few weeks]. ... The crown is constantly being put to the test, irresponsibly and unjustifiably. In a state such as Spain, which has serious problems with separatist movements and unstable territorial organisation, these attacks are unacceptable, especially against an institution that represents, more than any other, the historical continuation of the Spanish nation and its unity." (27/09/2007)

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Halo 3, one of the most heavily-marketed video games in history was launched in Europe on September 25th. The columnist Aleks Krotoski comments. "Frenzied television and movie execs have been begging games developers and pundits for the secrets of their success for several years now, desperate to figure out how to make their passive storytelling a more immediate, immersive and interactive experience for the kids and their parents ... Why? Gamers will buy Halo 3 and will work collaboratively to solve puzzles, develop stories and create content. It will compel them for many, many hours and will drive them away from the cinema screen and advertising slots. ... Computer games' popularity has had a profound effect on how we consume our media. We expect interactivity. We expect control. We expect to be responsible for our own actions and to have a say in how our heroes get the girl (or boy)." (27/09/2007)

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Author Andrzej Stasiuk has published his self-ironic book "Dojczland" in Poland. In the book he recounts his experiences on book tours through Germany. Bartosz Marzec found the book entertaining: "Poles have difficulty crossing the border into Germany, because its fabulous realities are obscured by prejudice and horrific family histories. With his book, Stasiuk tries to make the country more tame. To avoid total confusion, he seeks to construct a bridge between the orderly Germanic world and the anarchy of the Slavic world. This binding element appears to be the former GDR, a region rejected by West Germany... Stasiuk records the superficial side of events, but we know you can say something about a country whether you've spent 24 hours there or 24 years." (26/09/2007)

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All available articles from » Bartosz Marzec

Philippe Dagen is glad that the painting 'Femme Nue Couchée' by the French painter Gustave Courbet has been found in Slovakia, for it is "one of his most beautiful, most erotic ... . A work that had 'disappeared': it hadn't been seen since an exhibition in the spring of 1940, in Budapest's Museum of Fine Arts. ... Because of its importance in Courbet's body of work, its quality, its long disappearance and its sudden reappearance, this painting, the property of a London collector, will be one of the rarities on show in the Courbet retrospective opening at the Grand Palais in Paris on October 13th. The reappearance of 'La Femme Nue Couchée' is all the more important for illustrating Courbet's will to go as far as possible with the female nude. Her languid attitude seems that of a woman after lovemaking, who does not seek to hide her belly or armpits that are delicately clouded over by a thin haze of hair." (27/09/2007)

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The "Transparency International" organisation has published its 2007 international Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Cristian Campeanu comments on Romania's ranking: "We share place 69 - out of a total of 180 - with Ghana, and this despite the fact that Romania is supposed to have made important progress thanks to its EU accession. We rank lower than Columbia, the global epicentre of cocaine smuggling, Bulgaria, where the mafia shoots people in broad daylight, and Turkey, where words like 'Bakschich' (bribery) were invented. Naturally it's all a matter of perception... Nonetheless we still ask ourselves why Romania is perceived as so corrupt. The only honest answer is: because it is... When government officials - from city councils to ministries - are corrupt, and police officers, public prosecutors, judges and MPs too, you get the feeling you're trapped, and this reinforces the perception that corruption is everywhere." (27/09/2007)

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All available articles from » Cristian Campeanu

Journalist Franck McNally ponders the progress of European railways. "The high-speed trains of France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria will soon have a single website on which users can view timetables and book tickets. ... The map of this brave new Europe shows existing and planned high-speed links stretching north to Glasgow and Edinburgh; south to Malaga and Naples; east to Vienna and Warsaw; and north again to Oslo and Stockholm (via Europe's current longest sea-bridge). It also shows Ireland, in not-so-splendid isolation, its Dublin-Belfast line reaching towards the continental rail network like an outstretched hand. The challenge for Irish politicians, north and south, is to persuade Britain and the EU to help close the gap. After all, it's not just us who are cut off from Europe. It's the other way round too." (27/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Ireland, » Europe
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Michael Moravec reports on the dispute over the new euro coins that are to come out next year: "While the current coins feature only the 15 EU states that were members when the euro was introduced..., the new coins show 'the Continent of Europe' as a whole - i.e. including Switzerland, Norway, Ukraine and Belarus. And in accordance with the wishes of the European Commission, Turkey was also included, if only for the sake of correctly depicting the geographical position of EU member Cyprus. However, government representatives on the European Council changed the Commission's design: Turkey was erased and Cyprus was positioned several hundred kilometres to the West, near Crete, so that it fit in with Europe. Incensed MEPs who got wind of the change feared it was the result of a conspiracy led by opponents to Turkey's accession. The members of the Council appear bewildered by all the uproar... They point out that while Ukraine and Belarus belong to Europe, most of Turkey does not. 'This has nothing to do with politics; it was a decision based purely on geographic considerations.'" (27/09/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Tax Policy, » Europe, » Turkey
All available articles from » Michael Moravec